🌿 CHARLOTTE'S YELLOW HOLLYHOCKS 🌿 (Alcea rugosa)

Alcea rugosa
"Russian Hollyhocks,"
Now giving up some seeds from the 7-ft stalks––
this listing honors Charlotte Lamoureux (1911-2004)
who shared her yellow hollyhock seeds
with many island friends. Charlotte & Mahlon Lamoureux
bloomed where they were planted on Shaw Island, full time 
from 1966 to 1999. Charlotte loved yellow.
Anno eighteen August 2016.
Shaw Island, WA.
Un-enhanced photo.

Common Name:  
Russian Hollyhocks.

Life Cycle: Perennial

Zone: 4 to 8.

Native Region: The original species is from Ukraine and Southern Russia. 

Plant height: 4-feet

Flower height: 6-feet.

Bloom: Midsummer to early fall. Showy, buttery yellow.

Culture: Sun.

Water: Medium.

Seeding: One source says direct seeding on the surface.

Days to Sprout: 14-21.

Viability: 2-3 yrs if kept cool and dry.

Notes: Excellent but rarely encountered hollyhock. The tall, sturdy 6'-7' spikes begin to shoot up in Spring. The bottom half of the stock is clothed with typical Hollyhock foliage while the top half is adorned all summer with large 4 inch, single butter-yellow, classic mallow flowers. Short-lived but can self-seed so that a colony can persist in a garden for years. Tolerates a wide range of soil conditions except for winter wet. 

Sowing: Indoors in early March/April or outdoors in May or later in autumn.

Attracts: butterflies and hummingbirds. 

Resists The ugly rust (Puccinia malvacearum) that normally attacks the foliage of other Alcea species. 

Recommended for vertical accent and general garden use and bouquets. Self-sows in optimum conditions, if allowed, but never a problem.

The Shaw Island connection continues––
These scrumptious Hollyhocks captured on film and in 
 pockets of gardener Ingrid L., bicycling in France in 2000.
She brought home some of these seeds to plant at her 
new Shaw Island garden just purchased from Charlotte.
Photo courtesy of Ingrid.

Alcea rugosa
"Russian Hollyhocks"
Seeds for sale at the Gatehouse,
Shaw Island, WA.